Reluctant Hero
by Darqstar
Summary: Vegeta helps someone he doesn't even like do something she's always wanted to do. But he's doing it his way. It's a short and rather silly story. RR would be nice.


**DISCLAIMER: Dragon Ball Z was created by Akira Toriyama. Most Characters in this story were made by Akira Toriyama. (c) Akira Toriyama, Bird Studio, Toei Animation. Darqstar though, belongs to me, is me, annoying as she/I am. Before you scream "Mary Sue!" read the story though. Cause if I was Marysuing myself, I sure as hell would have ended up walking off into the sunset with Vegeta instead of... well, read it if you want to know. **

  


_Author notes: This story was written for a DBZ LJ RP group I'm involved in. I wrote it to cover some of what was happening "outside the journal" so-to-speak. But, it does stand completely alone. I wrote it **very** quickly, **very** late, but on the other side, it is also **very** short._

  


  


  


**Reluctant Hero**

By Darqstar

  


  


  


  


  


Vegeta frowned as he looked around the demolished gravity chamber. The floor was littered with destroyed training bots, the room itself was buckling under the force. 

_Eight hundred times earths gravity and this place falls to crap_ he thought, as he kicked the remains of one of the bots out of the way. _That woman had better learn to make things a lot stronger_

He walked over to the door and pressed the button. When the door, having been broken, did not spring open, he raised his hand sent out a short Kiblast. The door, and a good portion of the wall were promptly destroyed. 

"Oh great, what did you do now?" A voice called out to him. 

He spun around quickly, only to find himself looking into the none-to-happy eyes of his wife. "What the hell are you going on about?" he growled. 

"What am _I_ going on about?" she snapped. "Look at what you did!" She pointed, indicating the gravity chamber. 

"I did nothing," He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "The room is for training and that was what I was doing. It's not my fault you can't make it work. It's a useless peice of junk. Fix it." 

"**FIX IT?**" she roared. "I am _not_ your servant, I am your **WIFE**. And you do _not_ order me around!" 

While outwardly, he scowled, inwardly he was pleased. He liked it when she was mad, he liked it when she yelled. She had a temperment as fierce as any Saiya-jin warrior. Her fierce temperment and short fuse were half the reason he stayed with her. The other half was the sex, but right now he wasn't in the mood for that. "Baka! Don't blame me because you can't make equipment that will hold up to a Saiya-jin warrior. Fix the room. I expect it to be working before I return!" 

Before she could respond (which, he had a feeling would be a kick to his groin) he hurried to the nearest exit, opened the door, and flew off. He knew she would yell, knew she would scream, but she would also fix the room. She always did. And, when he did return, she would be madder than ever. They would yell more. And then, make up. The way they always did. A slow grin spread across his face as he zoomed through the sky. Later, he'd be in the mood for that sort of thing. 

The only problem now was to find something to do while she fixed the room and stewed in her own juices for a bit. 

Vegeta didn't like having "nothing" to do. If you wern't eating, sleeping, or "making up" with your woman, you should be training. In fact, training was more important than the eating or sleeping part. Well, maybe not eating. You needed fuel to keep training. 

He suddenly switched directions and headed out of the city. Maybe that clod Kakarotto was around. He could spar with him for a bit, which would be some decent training. 

* * *

_Oh, it figures_ Vegeta thought as he took to the sky again. He'd gone to Kakarotto's, only to find the third class Saiya-jin wasn't home. Apparently he was over visiting his granddaughter. _He spends too much time with that child_ Vegeta thought. _Falling to pieces over a little girl. Ridiculous._ He failed to remember that his own daughter, Bra, had often been accused of having daddy wrapped around her little finger. That wasn't important right now. 

He was about to head over to Gohan's place to see if he could convince Kakarotto to leave his little "Sweetheart" for a bit and do some fighting, when saw Raditz place. Raditz had recently moved out of the Son household, and had his own place near the edge of one of the many cliffs in the area. Normally, Vegeta wouldn't have given it a second glance, but as he was flying near, he saw Raditz was standing outside. _Well, maybe Raditz will spar with me_ he thought. _Not that he's anywhere near my level. Very few are, but he's better than nothing._ Vegeta hadn't been sure that bringing Raditz back using the Dragon balls was a great idea, but it seemed that once Kakarotto got an idea in his head, nothing would remove it. Kakarotto had the notion that he should get to know his big brother, and therefore, Raditz was brought back from the dead. 

It was less than a week ago, at the last BBQ Kakarotto had (And the clown seemed to hold them at the drop of a hat) that Raditz had mentioned to Vegeta that "If you ever want to spar with me, drop on by. I'll take you on." Well, today was the day. That Saiya-jin punk was awful cocky now that he'd come back from the dead. Time to take him down a peg or two... or fifty. 

As he got closer, he saw someone else standing near Raditz. A woman with red hair. Vegeta frowned. _Oh god, not her. What's she doing here?_

There was no love lost between Darqstar and Vegeta. Although there were times when Vegeta wondered if perhaps the woman protested too much. He'd noticed her staring at him, especially when she thought he wasn't looking. He found the thought that she might be... attracted to him, on some physical level, repulsive. _Good thing she's happily married._

Still, he wasn't going to let her stop him. After all, she was a mere human. Surely Raditz would send her on her merry little way once he knew why Vegeta was there. 

He landed in front of Raditz. "You said we could spar," he said, never one on "Hello" and "How's it going." "You're lucky. I have time today." 

Raditz blinked for a moment, looking a bit surprised. "Uh, sure, Vegeta," he said, finally. "I just need to finish something with Darqstar." 

"Hellooooo Nurse!" Darqstar chirped in that overly bright, bubbly way she sometimes had, which he knew she did, just to annoy the hell out of him. 

He looked at her and frowned. "I have no clue why you insist on calling me a 'nurse' every time you see me." 

She snickered. "It's a private joke." 

"That only you understand, I see," he snapped. He flicked his hand in the air, as if waving her off and looked at Raditz. "C'mon, let's do it." 

"Hold on a moment," Raditz said. "I was working with Darq on something. It won't take long. Why don't you wait over there?" He pointed to a tree, which was right by the house. 

Vegeta growled. The Prince of All Saiya-jins, being forced to play second to this weird human with a strange fascination for folks in the medical profession? It wasn't right. 

"Make it quick, I haven't got all day," he snapped, as he turned sharply on his heel and walked over to the tree. Crossing his arms over his chest, he sat down and scowled. 

Raditz looked over at Darqstar and shrugged. "Okay, where were we?" 

"Uhm.. outside your house," Darqstar quipped. 

_Oh, now she thinks she's a comedian_ Vegeta thought with a sneer. _Doen't she realize that the only joke around here is **her**_?" 

Raditz shook his head. "With your training, Darq!" 

"Oh, that!" She grinned, then fell serious. "Okay, Gokou taught me how to make the energy ball... I can focus that. But, it's just... the other part." 

"It's not that hard," Raditz said. "You just have to focus your energy into projecting your body." 

_I don't believe it, the stupid woman is trying to learn how to fly!_ Vegeta thought. _How dense can she be?_

Apparently, pretty dense, as he was soon to find out. Because Raditz kept patiently trying to get her to at least lift off the ground, but she couldn't do it. 

"I think it's a mental block," she admitted. "All my life, I was taught that people just couldn't fly. It's hard to get me used to that." 

"I can see that might be a problem," Raditz admitted. 

_What a loser!_ Vegeta thought, glaring at the two of them. _She's been watching all of us flying around for months. Why, even Sath and Jewel are flying like birds and they're human too. Well, Jewel might be a little more than human now, but she wasn't when she learned. Mental block, baka! She's just too stupid to learn._

He continued to watch, as Raditz kept trying to show her. And, even though Vegeta hated to admit it, part of him could understand why Raditz had become a fighting teacher. Raditz seemed to have a gift for showing how things should be done. The problem was, Darq the moron was about as bright as a two-watt bulb and just wasn't getting it. 

After almost two hours, they seemed no closer to their goal than they were when Vegeta first landed. And the ridiculous thing was that Vegeta was sure she really could fly, she just didn't believe in herself enough to do it. _She is **so** annoying,_ he thought. 

But, Raditz wasn't annoyed, or at least if he was, he was hiding it well. "This is harder than I thought," was the closest he'd come to admitting frustration. 

"I knew it would be," Darq said, her expression glum. "I just can't get it. I try and try and I... guess I just don't have faith in myself." 

"Whatever this is, it's one hell of a mental block," Raditz said. "So, how do we get you over it?" 

The moment the words were out of Raditz's mouth, Vegeta felt something inside him snap. In a flash, he was on his feet. "_Like this!_" he roared. 

Before either of them could react, before Raditz could stop him, Vegeta had rushed forward, slamming into Darqstar with such force that she went tumbling off the cliff. _"Fly or **DIE!**_" he screamed. 

"Vegeta, you ass!" Raditz shouted. He tried to fly off the cliff, so he could catch her, but Vegeta grabbed him. "Let me go! She'll die!" 

"Then _let_ her!" Vegeta snapped. "It's not like her death would be some terrible tragedy. Then she can go and annoy the hell out of your father and leave us alone!" 

"You bastard!" Raditz shouted. He twisted away from Vegeta and went running to the edge of the cliff. 

Raditz looked over the edge, knowing what he would see at the bottom. The mangled body of Darqstar. _Great_ He steeled himself for the sight. 

He saw.. nothing. Not a trace of her. "What the hell?" he cried. "Where the hell did she go?" 

Vegeta shook his head, not believing how dumb Raditz was being. "Open your eyes, Raditz!" 

Raditz stared at him. Vegeta looked at him, still shaking his head. Then, slowly, he pointed. Upward. 

Raditz turned and looked in the direction of Vegeta's finger. Upward. 

And there she was. Flying. Not very well, in fact, she looked positively frightened, but a bit exhilarated too. 

"You did it!" Raditz shouted. 

She nodded, rather quickly. "It's.. it does feel like the dreams," she said, her voice shaky. "And it's kinda scary!" 

"C'mon down then!" Raditz called. 

"H-h-how do I d-do that?" she asked. 

"Just think about being on the ground," Raditz said. "Move over here, and let yourself come to a landing. It's easy, just think about it and do it." 

She finally landed, slowly. Her face was ashen and she was covered with sweat. "I-I did it," she whispered. "I flew." A slow smile spread across her face. "I really flew!" 

"Yeah, you did!" Raditz smiled. "And the more your practice, the easier it will get." 

Slowly the color began returning to her face. "Oh god, I did it! And... and..." She looked over at Vegeta, "And it was all because of you!" 

"Oh, please don't thank me," Vegeta snapped. "I was hoping you'd die!" 

She shook her head. "No, I don't think you were. I-I think you knew I could do it. And you believed in me. So, you pushed me to make me do it!" 

Vegeta smirked. "Think what you want. I know the truth." 

Suddenly she ran over and threw her arms around him. "Thank you! Oh, thank you!" 

He pushed her away, quickly. "Don't. Touch. Me." 

"I-I'm sorry!" she said. "In fact, I'm sorry about a lot of things. For laughing when Jewel blew you into a mountain, for calling you Artichoke head, for-" 

"If you want to be thankful, than just shut up!" Vegeta interrupted, growling angrily. Was she going to mention every embarassing moment she had witnessed, so that Raditz would know about them? 

* * *

She finally left, about an hour later, still looking exhilarated that she had mastered something that even children could do. As she drove away, Raditz turned to Vegeta. "You took a risk. She could have been killed." 

"As I said, I was hoping she would," Vegeta said. 

Raditz studied him. "No, I don't believe that," he finally said. "You've changed since I knew you before. You might not like her, but you wouldn't kill her. Somehow, you knew she'd get it." 

Vegeta shrugged. "Human beings, despite being weak, stupid, and inferior to Saiya-jins, do have a very strong self-preservation instinct." 

Raditz knew that was as close to a "confession" as he was going to get out of Vegeta, so he nodded. 

"Now, are we going to fight?" Vegeta asked. 

Raditz nodded. "Bring it on." 


End file.
